1.10.2014

Farmhouse Update - It's A Doozy!

Based on the emails I'm getting lately, y'all are a little curious about The Farmhouse.

(if you're new here, click here to see the major renovations on our 60 year old family farmhouse)
This little adventure in house fixing up was one that we hadn't originally intended to go on. The house was old and outdated and, after a particularly awful renter, basically unlivable. The amount of trash and yuck sitting in the house on the day we first walked through it after the renter left had us feeling like we were better off burning the sucker to the ground. Not to mention, Andrew's work schedule leaves little time for home projects.

We closed the door that day feeling pretty discouraged and not sure what to do.

Then we got a call from Josie's old soccer coach asking if we were willing to let them check it out to see if they could possibly renovate it for their family farm.

They came and boy did they ever renovate.

The family spent the entire Summer and Fall at The Farmhouse. Cleaning, painting, tearing down walls. Their vision was big and they were making it happen. Right before our eyes, the heap of a house became Pinterest worthy.

But as these things go, it was way, way harder then any of us originally thought.

The project went over budget, over time tables, over what anyone wanted to be putting into it. An expected move in date of September 1st kept getting pushed back. All new plumbing, entirely new electric work, and general renovations were finally done-ish at the end of October leaving HVAC.

Heating and air ended up being a much bigger project, taking Andrew's off days, a lot of trips to Home Depot, and, at the end of the day, we still had to call out and pay a professional company to wrap it up.

Which brings us up to the start of December.

One chilly morning, just as I was sitting Josie down to start school, Andrew called with "something funny to tell me."

Which he promptly followed up with, "well, you might not think it's funny," which is never, ever good. Turns out, the family that was going to move in had some major changes and would be moving out of state.

I'll be honest, I was pretty devastated. I had gotten really excited about all they were going to be bringing to our 40 acres. Not to mention a family out here in the middle of nowhere. I'm never good with change and this was a major change in plans.

I still don't know all the details of the other family's move, but I do know that we now have a totally adorable, fully livable, farmhouse and no family to love it.

Andrew and I went back to the drawing board with what to do.

Andrew started dreaming of pool tables and poker games while I envisioned a Southern version of Meg's Craft House. But let's be honest, Andrew can't play poker and I'm about as crafty as a stick. The house was too nice now to just let it sit there empty.

There was one idea that we both agreed would be amazing and after a few phone calls, some family discussions, and a whole lot of youtube videos, we settled on starting a joint hobby farm of sorts with our best friends.

That's right, David and Amber along with their two girls will be moving to The Farmhouse next month!

If I say I'm a little excited, I'm lying. I'm way, way excited.

Having all of our best friends 50 yards from my backdoor is pretty much a dream come true for all of us.

Other then two tiny gardens, none of us have farmed before so that is going to be an insane project. There is a lot of research and talking and planning going on and I promise you won't want to miss the stories that are sure to come out of this.

The first thing on the agenda is obviously to get them moved in. After that, the guys are going to construct a chicken coop and till the garden so that we are ready for those two things come Spring. Andrew has already promised Josie pigs and I'm still dreaming of a mini dairy cow. I suppose we should see if we can even build a coop before I get too far ahead of myself.

As for The Farmhouse, Amber's decorating style is going to be so perfect up there.

I've been granted exclusive permission to stalk it every step of the way with my camera in hand, so you can all still follow the progress. Since they are moving in so soon, here are some shot of each room as it sits now:

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comments:

This is so very exciting! Wow...talk about a renovation! All the great energy that has been poured into this project, I think would make Andrews grandparents so proud. It's going to be great having such good friends living there!